An electrical connection box, such as a fuse relay box or a junction box, installed in an automobile internally accommodates a bus bar, a relay or a fuse, and electrical wires for connection thereto which are drawn to the outside of the case. If there is little space for the installation of this type of electrical connection box in terms of vertical height due to the design aspect, the arrangement relationship with other installed parts, or the like, it may be necessary to raise the bottom wall of the lower case of the electrical connection box and decrease the height of the electrical connection box.
If an electrical wire in an electrical connection box whose height has been reduced in this way is drawn downward, it comes into contact with the bottom wall, and thus it is difficult for the electrical wire to be drawn out downward. For example, as shown by the dashed double-dotted line in FIG. 8A, if the upper end portion of a tire house or wheel well H of an automobile is located at a position higher than the conventional position, the position of the lower surface of the rear portion of an electrical connection box 100 installed above the tire house rises from the position at the dashed single-dotted line to the solid line position. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 8B, when a terminal 120 is connected to a bus bar 110 of an internal circuit member through the lower surface of the rear portion of the electrical connection box 100, an electrical wire 130 extends downward in a state of extending without interfering with a bottom wall 100a of the electrical connection box 100, but in the above case, the electrical wire 130 interferes with the bottom wall 100a as shown in FIGS. 8C and 8D, and there have been problems such as the electrical wire becoming damaged, a detachment-direction load being applied to the junction with the bus bar due to excessive bending of the electrical wire, and degradation in the electrical connection reliability. In particular, if the electrical wire 130 is a thick electrical wire that is not easily bent, it is difficult for the thick electrical wire to extend downward and be bent to the side so as to follow the bottom wall 100a, and it becomes very difficult to install the electrical connection box 100 above the tire house H.
In general, a thick electrical wire has a core cross-sectional area of 8 mm2 or more, and since thick electrical wires are often used as power supply lines or the like and have bolt fastening terminals connected to their ends, thick electrical wires have a large curvature and are not easily bent, as mentioned above. In the case where it is difficult for a thick electrical wire to be drawn out downward from the electrical connection box, if the thick electrical wire is drawn out horizontally, instead, it may avoid interfering with the bottom wall of the electrical connection box. In such a case, drawing out the thick electrical wire in the horizontal direction requires the bolt fastening terminal connected to the end of the thick electrical wire to be bolt-fastened to the bus bar in a horizontally lateral orientation.
Also, in the case where a bolt fastening terminal is connected to the end of an electrical wire and bolt-fastened to a bus bar accommodated in an electrical connection box, as shown in FIG. 9A, it is necessary to bring a base plate 123 of a bolt fastening terminal 122 into contact with a bus bar 110 and fasten it thereto using a bolt B in the regular orientation in which a barrel crimping portion 124 is on the opposite side. However, there are cases where, as shown in FIG. 9B, the bolt fastening terminal 122 faces the opposite direction and is forcibly fastened to the bus bar 110 using the bolt B in an erroneous assembly, and the bolt fastening terminal becomes damaged.
In particular, there is a risk of the erroneous assembly shown in FIG. 9B occurring if the bolt fastening position of the bus bar 110 cannot be viewed from the outside.
As a configuration for connecting a bolt fastening terminal, which is connected to the end of an electrical wire that is to be laid out in the horizontal direction, to a bus bar in an electrical connection box, Japanese patent no. 4356741 (Patent Document 1), which was submitted by the same applicant as this application, conventionally provides the electrical connection box shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B for preventing an electrical wire drawn out from the electrical connection box from interfering with other parts arranged in the vicinity. In this electrical connection box, the electrical wire crimping portion of a bolt fastening terminal 150, which is connected to an electrical wire W by crimping, is covered by a terminal cover 210, and the terminal cover 210 is fitted into a notch 200a provided in an outer wall of a main body case 200 of the electrical connection box, and is joined to the outer wall. The bolt fastening terminal 150 is connected to the end of the electrical wire W, which is to be laid out in the horizontal direction, and is provided with a vertical electrical contact portion 152 that extends straight out from the crimping portion of a crimping barrel 151, and a horizontal bent portion 153 that is obtained by the width-direction upper end of the electrical contact portion 152 being bent 90 degrees outward. A bolt hole 154 provided in the bent portion 153 is fastened to a horizontal bus bar, which is arranged inside the electrical connection box, using a bolt B.
Similarly, according to Japanese registered utility model 2593663 (Patent Document 2), as shown in FIG. 11, a bolt fastening terminal 300 connected to the end of a power supply electrical wire W that is to be laid out in the horizontal direction is provided with an electrical wire connection portion 301, a portion 302 that extends straight out from the electrical wire connection 301, and an L-shaped bent portion 305 obtained by a side end of the portion 302 being bent 90 degrees. A bolt hole 310 provided in the L-shaped bent portion 305 is placed over and fastened to an L-shaped bent portion of a bus bar, using a bolt.
JP 4356741B and JP 2593663Y are examples of related art.
As shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2, conventionally, in the case where an electrical wire constituted by a power supply wire or the like is to be laid out in the horizontal direction and connected to a bus bar in an electrical connection box, the bolt fastening terminal connected to the end of the electrical wire is provided with an electrical wire connection portion that is crimped by a barrel, and a bent portion that extends straight out from the electrical wire connection portion and is bent 90 degree along one width-direction edge of the electrical contact portion, and a bolt hole is provided in the bent portion and fastened to the bus bar using a bolt. However, the bolt fastening terminals disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are not shaped for general use, but rather are dedicated parts that have special shapes.
Conventionally, a general-purpose bolt fastening terminal used for connection to the end of a thick electrical wire, such as a power supply line, is shaped so as to include an electrical wire connection portion that is provided with a barrel, an electrical connection portion that extends straight out from the electrical wire connection portion, and a bolt hole provided in the electrical connection portion. In other words, it does not have the special shape of the electrical contact portions of Patent Documents 1 and 2, which are provided with a bent portion that has the bolt hole.
As described above, if a bolt fastening terminal connected to the end of an electrical wire that is to be laid out in the horizontal direction has a special shape of being provided with a bent portion, the cost rises due to the terminal being a dedicated part, it is necessary to also provide the electrical connection box with a portion for positioning, holding, and protecting the bolt hole-including bent portion of the terminal, and so on, and therefore there has been the problem of the structure of the electrical connection box becoming complex.
The electrical connection box disclosed herein was achieved in light of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide an electrical connection box that has a reduced cost due to being able to use a general-purpose part as the bolt fastening terminal, and is able to, using a simple structure, position the general-purpose bolt fastening terminal in the insertion direction and furthermore protect it.